Valdepeñas will commemorate the International Museum Day this weekend, celebrated on May 18th and themed ‘The Future of Museums: Recover and Reimagine’, focusing on how these spaces can contribute to a world experiencing social, technological, and environmental changes, actively participating in shaping sustainable and inclusive communities.
To achieve this, the city council will open its museums at night and enhance visits with various activities related to ancient crafts linked to traditional elements.
The Deputy Mayor for Culture and Tourism, Vanessa Irla, stated, “From the Culture Department, we wanted to bring an activity related to crafts to each museum this year. We aim to focus this Museum Day on those ancient, traditional crafts as well, to bring them closer to the younger generations and keep our own tradition alive.”
Municipally-owned museum spaces like the Cerro de las Cabezas Archaeological Park, Municipal Museum, Mills Museum, and Wine Museum will open their doors on Saturday, May 17th, until around 11:00 pm, promoting various free activities open to the public without prior registration.
Exhibitions and a guided tour
The Deputy Mayor for Culture detailed that, at the Municipal Museum, there will be a display of bobbin lacework by the Valdepeñas Bobbin Lace Association, showcasing this art form and allowing visitors to demonstrate their skill in this purely artisanal work.
The Cerro de las Cabezas Archaeological Park will host the Veneranda Dies Ensemble group, led by multi-instrumentalist of Galician origins Fernando Mosquera, who will transport the audience to ancient times through their instruments, accompanied by historical explanations for understanding the repertoire and knowledge of the musical instruments used in other eras.
Additionally, the Wine Museum will feature Valdepeñas native Antonio Fresneda, one of the few remaining master coopers in Spain, who will demonstrate the artisanal process of making wine barrels and how the skins are treated.
Lastly, the Mills Museum will have Juan Bautista as host, one of the few keepers of an art that has survived time, keeping windmills from Cervantes’ era alive. His dedication has earned him recognition from the Castilla-La Mancha Regional Government, with the Cultural Merit Medal for the conservation and dissemination of the region’s heritage.
Vanessa Irla mentioned that each museum will have four showings of these exhibitions, lasting approximately 20 minutes each. They will be performed at 7:30 pm, 8:30 pm, 9:30 pm, and 10:30 pm in each museum.
Furthermore, on Sunday, May 18th, the International Museum Day will be commemorated with the guided tour ‘When Craft Becomes Prodigy: The City, an Inhabited Museum’. It will begin at 12:00 pm at the Cultural Center ‘La Confianza’ as a meeting point, and as Irla previewed, “the tour will travel back to the dawn of the 20th century when architecture gave Valdepeñas a renewed identity. Various typologies adorn its streets, inaugurating a new urbanism and expansion. Two landmarks guide this route: The Circle of Trust, on Real Street, and the Comprehensive Training and Innovation Center on Castellanos Street.”
The Deputy Mayor for Culture concluded by stating, “The revaluation of our city as an open-air museum makes perfect sense in this celebration.”